Great Southern guns — blasts from the past: Claremont’s 1981 WAFL premiership stacked with Great Southern talent

The suspension of sport amid the coronavirus crisis has given the Advertiser the chance to look back at some of the region’s finest sporting talent from yesteryear. Our sixth edition of Great Southern guns – blasts from the past series looks at the incredible Great Southern football talent within Claremont’s WAFL premiership team of 1981. The 1981 WAFL grand final will long be remembered for the manic first few minutes involving an all-in brawl between Claremont and South Fremantle players. Claremont went on to win a thrilling decider, coming from behind at three-quarter-time to end a 17-year premiership drought. The premiership victory sits high up in Great Southern football folklore, given the representation of players from the region. Nine players from the Great Southern zone at the time, which included the Upper Great Southern area, were in the Tigers premiership team — three from Albany, two from Mt Barker, two from Kukerin, one from Denmark, and one from Newdegate. The Krakouer brothers, Phil and Jim (Mt Barker), Mark Watson (Denmark), Darrell Panizza, Baden Harper and Allan Daniels (Albany), Noel Morton (Newdegate), Ray Smith, and Tom Pearce (Kukerin) went down in the history books as premiership players on that famous day in October 1981. The most striking memory of the grand final was the opening bounce as Bulldogs tough man Basil Campbell ran through the Tigers’ Barry Beecroft, which sparked an all-in brawl. The first quarter was full of spot fires as tempers between the two sides boiled over more than once. Albany wingman Panizza kicked the first goal of the game as his Tigers opened up a 20-point lead by quarter-time. The Bulldogs responded with six majors in the second term, but their eight-point half-time advantage was trimmed to a single point by the Tigers heading into the final quarter. The Tigers kicked five majors in the fourth term as they won a memorable grand final, 16.15 (111) to 12.24 (96). Gary Shaw won the Simpson Medal for Claremont and South Fremantle’s Simpson Medal recipient was Maurice Rioli. The Great Southern contingent were fantastic in their contribution to the Tigers’ triumph, the majority of them having joined the club in the late 1970s. Brownlow medallist Graham Moss was captain-coach of the victorious side and recalled the dramatic first quarter. “It was a great game of football, fast and furious, high-scoring and full of action,” Moss said. “There were great players on both sides, particularly some of the Indigenous players. “That set the scene when Basil ran through Barry Beecroft, there were spot fires breaking out everywhere, but once the initial 10-15 minutes was out of the way it all settled down. “I still watch it now and then. In my opinion it is a better brand of football than you see these days.” Moss said the Great Southern players had a great influence on the result. “It was a culmination of a number of years of growth and development among the players in the Claremont side,” he said. “The guys from down south joined in the late 70s, we had spent a lot of time creating a junior development program in the regions and we worked very closely with Ongerup and the Southern Districts league. “I had a close association with the Krakouer boys in the middle. “Jim was my go-to rover and he would flick the ball out to Phil to kick it down the ground. “The Great Southern guys were great, tough, hard players and after we bombed out at the end of 80 we all made a pledge we would win one. “We were determined to win and that ‘81 premiership bore the fruits of the long association with our country zones.” Phil Krakouer finished with 24 disposals in the grand final, and his brother Jim gathered 21 touches and kicked a goal. Harper, Smith, Pearce and Morton were part of the Tigers’ backline, Panizza had 16 possessions on a wing, while Watson and Daniels kicked a goal apiece. Panizza, the Claremont games record-holder, said that Great Southern group formed well before 1981. “That grand final team all started with Joe Burton in ‘75 when we played in the Great Southern carnival,” Panizza said. “He was the coach and we won the carnival, and then we all made our way to Claremont. “We went out in straight sets in ‘79 and then ‘80, and after that the older blokes made way. “Murray Ward came in as an assistant to Mossy and that’s when things changed. “We basically turned to youth and we built a dynasty from there on. That is where Claremont started to become powerful in the WAFL.” Panizza said he could remember the grand final and that opening bounce like it was yesterday. “It was the first grand final on a long weekend,” he said. “The striking thing was afterwards I thought we would win lots of premierships but you didn’t realise how hard it was to win on that day. “Me and Benny Vigona played on each other, we watch the first bit of the brawl go down, and it was like being in a boxing ring. “I was lucky enough to kick the first goal in the second semi and the grand final, but footy was just fun back then. “My favourite memory was on the back of a flat-top truck drinking beer at 5pm on the Tuesday as we drove down St Georges Terrace in peak hour traffic as we sang the song with the flag.”